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| Posted by chessbaker blitzbrain.net 10/24/2008 02:15:11 play online chess |  Subject: openingsMessage: |
| Posted by doctor_knight blitzbrain.net 10/25/2008 23:01:24 play online chess | Message: In chess, knowing the major openings helps you learn a lot of really good things about piece coordination and development. There are really important principles that are applicable to many other openings that you can learn from the mainstream openings. Not only that, many of the not so common openings have many possibilities to transpose into positions from the mainstream openings and in these cases it helps to know these openings a lot. And also don't forget that if you're trying to avoid the mainstream openings, you still have to know what to avoid. Of course I don't think you need to learn the mainstream openings really well or be an expert or anything, but if you have the time to learn them, I definitely don't think it would hurt. However, if you're talking about studying endgames more than openings, I would have to agree with you there (actually I think endgames are more like the forms and kata from martial arts than anything in the opening). |
| Posted by easy19 blitzbrain.net 10/26/2008 00:43:58 play online chess | Message: you have a big advantage over any opponent who does not know his openings. There are several very good opening traps that are based on logical moves. So a player playing on logic and not on opening knowledge has a good chance to get beaten by the one who knows his opening. you only have to know the pattern and after that you can play on logic and skill. but you will see how many players you can surprise whit cunning opening traps even if they are unsound. The Fried Liver Attack This is a classic and runs as follows. 1. e4 e5, 2. Nf3 Nc6, 3. Bc4 Nf6, 4. Ng5 d5, 5. ed NxP?!, 6. Nxf7!? KxN, 7. Qf3+ Ke6, 8. Nc3. The position is unclear after 8. ... Nb4. However, white can improve with the line 6. d4 ed, 7. 0-0 when he threatens 8. Nxf7 and is probably winning. The Staunton Gambit This is in some sense similar to From's gambit running as it does 1. d4 f5, 2. e4 fe. Now the move 3. Nc3 has the idea of 3. ... d5?, 4. Qh5+ g6, 5. Qxd5 (and if 5. ... Qxd5, 6. Nxd5 Kd8, 7. Bf4 black has no good way to defend the c7 pawn) when white is clearly better. If black plays 3. ... Nf6, then white can play 4. Bg5 with the idea that if 4. ... d5?, then 5. BxN ef, (Not 5. ... gf, 6. Qh5+-) 6. Qh5+ g6, 7. Qxd5 QxQ, 8. NxQ when white wins the f6 pawn and has a winning advantage. If black plays the correct 4. ... Nc6 then after 5. BxN ef, (not 5. ... gf, 6. Qh5#) white should avoid the immediate 6. Nxe4 because black can play 6. ... Qe7 winning material after for example 7. Qe2 Nxd4, 8. Qd3 Qb4+ etc. Better therefore is 6. d5 Ne5, 7. Nxe4 with an equal position. A pretty trap There is a very pretty but rare trap which runs as follows. 1. e4 e5, 2. Nf3 d6, 3. Bc4 Bg4, 4. Nc3 g6?, 5. Nxe5! BxQ, 6. Bxf7 Ke7, 7. Nd5# The Modern Defence A similar queen trap is seen after the moves 1. e4 g6, 2. d4 Bg7, 3. Nf3 d6, 4. Bc4 Nd7??, when white wins with 5. Bxf7! If black takes it with 5. ... KxB?? (which looks superficially correct) then after 6. Ng5 he faces an unpleasant choice. If Kf6 then Qf3#, if Qf8 then Ne6+ wins black's queen, and if Ke8 then Ne6 still wins black's queen! The Chameleon Variation of the Sicilian Defence Another trick which makes use of this trapping pattern, but to even greater effect, occurs in an unusual line of the Chameleon variation of the Sicilian. 1. e4 c5, 2. Nc3 Nc6, 3. Ne2 (This is quite a sneaky move; white waits for black to commit himself to a particular set–up before deciding whether to play an open or a closed Sicilian.) 3. … Nf6, 4. d4 (This is probably the wrong decision. White should play a closed Sicilian here with 4. g3.) 4. … e6, (4. ... cd 5. Nxd4 would of course transpose to a main line classical Sicilian) 5. d5 ed, 6. ed Ne5, 7. g3?? (7. Nf4 is better, and quite interesting) 7. ... Nf3#. Quite a shock! |
| Posted by pavel76 blitzbrain.net 10/27/2008 05:18:14 play online chess | Message: |
| Posted by dysfl blitzbrain.net 10/27/2008 07:15:41 play online chess | Kata in martial arts Message: Kata has its own benefits, but if you look into the history of Shotokan style, it was developed when the teacher could not teach all the individuals one on one basis, which is the best way. Kata is a compromise with supply and demand, in a nutshell. If you open a Karate studio and teach one student at a time at 25-30 dollars/hour rate, you could not pay the rent. There is no screte about it. I have seen so many students are learning the steps when their fists are pointing to a slightly wrong direction, and in real fight, it would break their wrists. I don't want to say to the extent that it is one of the dirtiest trick in that industry, but some people opens a studio and teaches kata only as they don't know anyting but kata. I used to hitting pillers with ropes around it, till my fists bled, then repeated kata till I could do it quite well with blindfolded. However, what really helped me was sparring and hitting the mittens/sandbags in later days. Practicing kata gave me false comforts that I was learning something, and it was a beautiful deception. |
| Posted by spurtus blitzbrain.net 10/30/2008 01:40:01 play online chess | Message: It gives you a plan and if you can retain a margin of opening advantage it can have a snowballing effect. when you see a move you've not encountered before you spot it immediately and you should try to work why it is sub optimal and exploit any weaknesses. If your finding that the openings are too vast to even contemplate I suggest that you completely ignore all e4 openings and simply concentrate of QP openings. You half the task immediately.( there are certain openings to help you do this. I don't even know the first thing about KP openings but I do know about Blackmar Diemer Gambit, Budapest Gambit, Scandinavian, Alekhine ) It is indeed possible to play both sides of the board ignoring the typical e4 openings 99% of the time. I've done this and have virtually never played a sicilian / ruy lopez, kings gambit etc etc. Of course just stick to the basic maxims and you cant go too far wrong?.. can you?... namely, in order of importance... Development, King Safety. |
| Posted by ionadowman blitzbrain.net 10/30/2008 12:56:28 play online chess | The trouble is... Message: If you don't like "book learning" I would recommend doing just a little bit of book learning in what I call "Systems Openings". Such openings are the English, Colle, Reti and/or Catalan on the White side (I gather the London Opening is another such but I don't know it), and for Black, maybe certain lines of the French Defence, or the Modern Defence. I think the "Lion Variation" of the Philidor defence is also "systematic". I've not indicated the moves for these openings, but maybe one or other of these can be discussed later. The point of these sorts of openings is that you have a fairly clear cut line to follow, so that you can reach the early middlegame with a playable game. I can appreciate the problem of the opening. Too much these days seems to be known, and even if you possess that theoretical knowledge, far too much of the game ends up being "book". Several months ago I played the White side of a 28-move Latvian Gambit that stopped being theory only after at least half to two-thirds of the game had been played. There probably wasn't a new move in the entire game! I don't think I'll be in a mad ruch to play this line of the Latvian Gambit again. One thing for sure, though: in sharp openings, watch words like "development" and "king safety" won't be sufficient. Consider this sharp line: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 ... This is in fact a good move, even though it moves a piece twice in the opening. Having said that, though, if you want to keep things within bounds you might prefer 4.d4 or 4.d3.. 4...Bc5!? Develops a piece, but what price King safety? What about keeping the material balance. Mind you, Black doesn't have to play this. 5.Nxf7+ (5.Bxf7+ is also playable and might actually be the better choice) 5...Bxf2+! What the... Faced with a knight fork against his heavy pieces, Black goes nuts and tosses away a Bishop! But this is theory. Nothing creative about this! 6.Kxf2 (Safer is 6.Kf1, but there isn't all that much in it) 6...Nxe4+ 7.Ke1?? ... Shortly after joining GK, I played Black in this line against an opponent who didn't like "book" learning. I knew this line; my opponent was winging it. Until this move, he had been doing fine. But this move (7.Ke1) you won't find in the books. 7.Kg1 keeps White in the fight. 7...Qh4+ 8.g3 Nxg3 9.Rg1 Ne4+ 0-1. White's king can not be saved: 10.Ke2 Qf2+ 11.Ke3 Nc5+ 12.Kc3 Qd4#. If you want to progress, it can't be helped. Some book learning is needed. But maybe there are ways of limiting this to manageable proportions. As White, for many years I played the English Opening almost exclusively. It sure limited my opponent's choices! Cheers, Ion |
| Posted by chessbaker blitzbrain.net 10/30/2008 15:15:56 play online chess | Message: |
| Posted by spurtus blitzbrain.net 10/30/2008 15:43:53 play online chess | Message: i have yet to find a systems opening that really works ( for me ) I have tried and shunned them. I've seen some players do well with this though. here is how I would spend my chess learning time... 40% play play play, play online, play OTB, play CC! 30% study YOUR openings. ( I rate this reasonably highly ) 15% get a solid endgame knowledge. ( dont learn KBN v K waste of time!! ) 10% perform tactical learning and do tactical 'drills'. 4% study YOUR games (all of them!) 1% study masters games and realise you don't really understand what the hell is going on most of the time. |
| Posted by blake78613 blitzbrain.net 10/30/2008 19:49:13 play online chess | Message: |
Chess news: Modern Chess Players Prove Bobby Fischer Was Wrong -- Bobby Fischer once famously remarked that "chess is dead". What he meant was that so much had been discovered about the game of chess that creativity and innovation were waning. Chess players are certainly better prepared than ever because databases and computers are widely used to analyze and dissect openings. Players can sometimes reel off 20 or more moves before they leave their preparation. That seems to have sucked the life out of some chess openings. Most top players know a couple of lines in the Petroff Defense through more than 20 moves, and it is not uncommon for them to play that out and agree to a draw, if that is the result they want. But there are ... Magnus Carlsen joins Vladimir Kramnik -- Vladimir Kramnik had to engineer an escape from a difficult endgame as Alexey Shirov brought the former world chess champion to the brink of defeat at Wijk aan Zee. Shirov remains half a point behind Kramnik and world number one Magnus Carlsen with two to play. Carlsen defeated Lenier Dominguez, somewhat fortuitously, to join Kramnik on 7.5/11. Carlsen has the easier finish as Kramnik must play black against Vishy Anand in the penultimate game. Carlsen faces Peter Leko with black and teenager Fabiano Caruana with white. ... Carlsen Conquers Corus -- With a bit of luck and nerves of steel, Magnus Carlsen of Norway, the world’s top-ranked chess player, won the annual Corus chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands, which ended Sunday. Carlsen finished with a score of 8.5 points out of 13, a half point ahead of Vladimir Kramnik of Russia and Alexei Shirov of Spain. Viswanathan Anand of India, the world chess champion, and Hikaru Nakamura of the United States, were tied for fourth and fifth, another half point back. The chess tournament is named after the Dutch company, which is the second largest steel producer in Europe, according to the company’s Web site. The tournament is one of the highlights of the year ... | |